Chevron's Angola output is expected to reach 580,000 barrels a day in 2010, an 8.4% increase from recent levels, a company manager said, in a development that could help boost the company's output after it dropped its long-term production target.

"We are targeting 580,000 barrels a day in 2010" compared with about 535,000 barrels a day in November, John Baltz, Chevron's Southern Africa production manager told Dow Jones Newswires last week during a visit to the company's Angola operations.

This estimate for Block 0 and Block 14 operated by the company offshore Angola "can vary depending on maintenance and other factors," he said.

This included the ramping up of Tombua-Landana, the latest offshore platform to come onstream in September. The platform's superintendent, Wayland Christensen, said output from the facility is due to reach 30,000 barrels a day in January from 17,000 barrels a day currently.

Production is due to peak, around end-2011 or early 2012, at 100,000 barrels a day, he said.

The Mafumeira Norte Field, which started up in July, is currently producing 30,000 barrels a day, ramping up to its target of 35,000 barrels a day, Baltz said.

In March, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company had to drop its oil and gas production forecast of a compound annual growth rate of 3% between 2005 and 2010, as lower oil prices bit into its investment plans.

Meanwhile, the output increase at Angola's largest foreign oil producer could add to the country's challenge to respect its quota with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The country says its production target is 1.656 million barrels a day, while OPEC's secretariat puts the number at 1.52 million barrels a day.